Batting

BEAUMONT, Texas – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi baseball team was unable to get the offense going, while the Lamar offense exploded for nine runs on 17 hits to take a 9-1 final in the series finale. The Islanders won the series with wins on Friday and Saturday, but were unable to complete the sweep on Sunday.

The team is on 23-28 on the season, and 14-16 in Southland Conference play. Lamar is now 20-29 this year, with a 12-18 mark in league games. The loss drops the Islanders into a tie for seventh place, with the top eight teams making the Southland Conference Tournament in two weeks.

For starter Adam Hoelscher, it was a rough day as he started the first and second innings well, but was unable to get the final out before runs scored in each one. He took the loss to fall to 6-6, pitching just 1.2 innings and giving up five runs on eight hits with no walks and one strikeout. He was the first of six Islanders pitchers that saw action in the game on Sunday.

In the bottom of the first, Lamar got three runs on four hits to take the early lead. It looked like Hoelscher would get out of it with minimal damage, as he appeared to make the final out at first base, but a controversial call extended the inning, with the Islanders starter getting rattled and hitting a batter before giving up a two-run single to make it a 3-0 score.

The Cardinals scored two more runs in the second inning to knock Hoelscher out of the game, as Tyler Schnuriger came on to get the final out of the inning with the Islanders trailing 5-0.

Lamar picked up single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, with two more coming in the sixth as they extended the lead to 9-0.

The Islanders had 12 hits in the game, but were unable to string together enough, scoring just one run in the ninth inning for a 9-1 final. After a pair of outs to start the ninth, Dan Sciantarelli and Omar Garcia each singled to put runners on first and second. Jordan Lee drove in Sciantarelli with a single to center that scored the only run of the game for Texas A&M – Corpus Christi.

The Islanders finish out the 2012 regular season with a road series against UT Arlington next weekend. Due to the early start of the Southland Conference Tournament the following week, the series will feature 6:30 games on Thursday and Friday, with a 2 p.m. start rounding out the weekend on Saturday.

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